


Thereat smiled Neptune

by wildestranger



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-28
Updated: 2007-05-28
Packaged: 2017-10-13 16:35:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/139380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildestranger/pseuds/wildestranger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Calypso is not the only god of the sea.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Thereat smiled Neptune

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://shaggydogstail.livejournal.com/profile)[**shaggydogstail**](http://shaggydogstail.livejournal.com/) for the beta!

He clapped the plump cheeks, with his tresses played,  
And smiling wantonly, his love bewrayed.  
He watched his arms, and as they opened wide  
At every stroke, betwixt them would he slide  
And steal a kiss, and then run out and dance,  
And as he turned, cast many a lustful glance,  
And threw him gaudy toys to please his eye,  
And dive into the water, and there pry  
Upon his breast, his thighs, and every limb,  
And up again, and close beside him swim,  
And talk of love.  
Christopher Marlowe, _Hero and Leander,_ II, 181-190.

Jack is in Florida the first time the thought occurs to him. While the sea has always been a woman to him, Calypso is not the only god of the sea, nor the first one Jack has encountered. After that thing with Amphitrite (Jack remembers rum, sand in unconscionable places, and something about a wooden leg) he knows better than to venture into Poseidon's territories, but Proteus, now, Proteus is quite another thing. Proteus is a man he can have parley with. A pirate, almost.

It happened like this: his third voyage as a sailor, swabbing decks and climbing sails on _H.M.S. Augusta._ They'd been carrying barrels of wine from Spain back to England when the storm hit, sudden and violent as Mediterranean squalls often are. The captain ran a tight ship and there had been little panic until the lightning hit the maintopsail, but after that it was every man for himself and his own barrel of wine. Jack had, fortunately, been below the deck as it happened, sharing a drink with a mate (sometimes it was necessary to have a little taste just to make sure the wine hadn't gone sour) and telling tales of Singapore. He'd grabbed the closest barrel, given his friend a little pat on the cheek (the boy was young and impressionable, and Jack had been eager to impress), and made a run for it. The last thing he remembered was the scowling face of the captain, and the explosion that threw him off the ship.

He'd woken up on an island, a strange face peering into his. A young face, beautiful and alien, with sea-coloured eyes. Jack blamed the bump on his head for first thinking it was a woman, but even later, after it had been proved to his satisfaction just how very manly his new friend was, he would have guessed that Proteus had whatever parts he liked, whenever he liked. The flesh under Jack's hands was always slippery, shifting beneath and above him, although Jack did his best to pin it down.

Jack had caught the sea god fairly, and as the legend goes, been offered a favour of his choice. But the deal was a pirate deal, and Jack had left the island still tasting salty skin on his lips, with a promise of another choice, another favour, to be rendered at a more opportune moment.

After Florida Jack takes a few days to mull it over, and a few more bottles of rum to remember whether it would be worth it. His memories aren't sweet, but he wakes up with a pounding on his head and a hardness in his breeches, and it isn't just his cock that makes him ache. All the eyes that look at him turn to seagreen, and he doesn't know if it's the god or someone else that he is seeing. He goes back to Tortuga and looks up Giselle, gets slapped a few times (some for revenge, some for fun, and he takes it in good sport), but it's not what he wants, and so Jack goes back to his rum and his ponderings.

(He finds Elizabeth, once, but she doesn't see him and he makes a point of not being seen. There's too much bitterness there still, and the look of haggard unhappiness on her face reminds him of other men he has left behind.)

Lieutenant Theodore Groves bumps into him in Port Roayle. He's a nice fellow, if a little young, but he buys Jack a drink and sucks him off in one of the rooms above the tavern. Groves is eager and he strips himself bare for Jack, lies down for him, whispers his longings into Jack's ear. What he wants, though, is the same thing that Jack wants, and they can neither of them have it. Afterwards, when the boy is sleeping off his rum and his tears, Jack looks long at the white wig perched on the chair, at the blue uniform thrown carelessly on the floor. He makes up his mind.

Proteus isn't easy to find, but Jack has his ways and knows his people. Knows the sea, and the unrest that is still felt by all who move on her, and within her. He makes his request plainly and watches the god laugh, the smile unmoving on Jack's own face as he waits and keeps from fidgeting. He would laugh too, if he heard that the infamous Captain Sparrow had asked for something like this. For such a reason, for such a man.

He ends up on a solitary island (Why is it always an island? Why?) with three bottles of rum, a leaking dinghy, and a promise of something showing up in about a week. Proteus' smile is wide and his eyes warm, and Jack is almost tempted to offer something else to sweeten the deal. But playing with the gods is risky, and he still has a scar behind his knee from Tia Dalma, and so he smiles back, tips his hat, and sets out to wait. Drinks two of the rum bottles, and curses when he remembers that he forgot to ask for water, again.

Five days later he wakes up to the sound of someone else breathing.

And finds James Norrington, formerly Admiral of the Royal Navy, naked as the day he was born and lying on his belly in the sand. Jack takes a moment to appreciate the long lines of his back, the strong muscles on his thighs, before nudging him over with his foot. There is even more to appreciate on this side and Jack leers, then winks at the scowling Norrington.

"Look lively, man. We've got some unfinished business, you and I."

James scowls some more and Jack feels a real smile break on his face.

  



End file.
